(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods used to fabricate semiconductor devices, and more specifically to a method used to fabricate a stripe photodiode element for an image sensor cell.
(2) Description of Prior Art
Active pixel, or image sensor cells, are usually comprised with a photodiode element, used to collect photon energy for the cell. The efficiency of the photon collector, or the photodiode element, usually comprised of a N/P diode, is directly related to the depletion region of this diode. The depletion region in turn is a function of the doping level of the components of the N/P photodiode element, as well as the area of the photodiode. However trends to micro-miniaturization have resulted in decreasing space allotted for the image censor cell, and thus smaller, less efficient photodiode elements are used.
Prior art, such as Merrill, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,774, as well as Lee et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,493, describe methods of fabricating active pixel cells, however these prior arts do not describe active pixel cells featuring a stripe photodiode design, and the method used to fabricate this type of photodiode element, now described in the present invention.